Preface - Phaidon30 31 100 Contemporary Interiors The Boathouse 9 6 10 7 8 → 6 The middle zone; a series of interlocking spaces include a marble-lined shower, lavatory, and changing

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PrefaceThe world of interior design is changing: green architecture has gone from

novelty to necessity, walls have become optional rather than essential. Conceptual

statements have taken physical shape and interstitial spaces offer a new focus.

Building materials have been re-imagined, landscape has become increasingly

precious, and the specifics of locale are a more powerful determinant than ever.

ROOM features 100 interior-design projects from around the world chosen by

10 widely respected interior-design critics, practitioners and curators. The 100

designs featured in this volume, all of which were constructed in the last five years,

are pushing the boundaries of design and constantly revising our understanding

of interior space.

The book is the latest volume in Phaidon’s groundbreaking series on contemporary

design. It is arranged alphabetically by practice name. The work of each of these

designers is featured on four pages, and each of their projects is presented in detail

and accompanied by an insightful text by the selecting critic.

ROOM introduces the reader to the designers who are redefining what it means

to design today, and to the approaches that will forever change the way we think

about what is possible: the design of tomorrow.

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GA 001 REV HCONSTRUCTION ISSUE

General Arrangements: Floor PlanVirginia Waters Cottage (Boathouse) 13.09.2010

3 cedar studio 45 glebe place London SW3 5JE t. +44 (0) 20 352 1194 f. +44 (0)845 280 5071 e. [email protected] w.alexcochrane.net

ALEX COCHRANE ARCHITECTS04.11.20101m0 1.5 m

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1 Living2 Working3 Library4 Eating5 Showering6 Changing7 Sliding door8 Washing9 Sleeping10 Vanity desk11 Terrace12 Lake

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100 Contemporar y Interiors The Boathouse

Berkshire, England2012 — Residential

The Boathouse A number of the people I have selected have no fear, or even have a mischievous love, of breaking the rules. I, too, have broken the rules – I admit it: I have not visited this project. And while I dearly hope I will be able to visit The Boathouse, I have eagerly pored over every available image of it and read every available reference.

In this charming boathouse dating back to 1826, Alex Cochrane has created, within a tightly protected form, an exquisite, contemporary space for living. Minimal and accurately informed by modernism, Cochrane’s rigorous ‘quality, not quantity’ ethos informs the materiality within this beautiful place. A rare, perfect judgement of proportion and contrast creates a quiet, powerful drama. Many designers and architects reference the classic work of Donald Judd and the seminal minimalist artists, yet few process the theory and deploy it as effectively as Cochrane has done with his wonderful Boathouse project.

Nothing delights like surprise. The contrast between expectation and the sophisticated, sublime form is a quiet triumph. The interior is still, somehow, delicately sensitive to the original form. It makes it a deep pleasure to look at, and I wonder at the sense of privilege of visiting, or even living in, such a place!

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→ 1 Exterior; The Boathouse is set in isolation on the

banks of a lake; the top floor serves as the living area,

an open-plan arrangement of three interlocking ‘living’

zones, while the ground floor maintains its purpose

of housing boats. → 2 Kitchen; the Dinesen Douglas

floorboards have a lively grain that was chosen to

complement the straight-grained oak joinery units;

the worktops are Carrara marble; range of cafetieres

by Freud; Cone Kettle by Le Creuset. → 3 Floor plan.

→ 4 Resting and sleeping zone; two bespoke chaise

longue sofas come together to form a large bed; a

seascape photograph entitled Hurricane by Clifford

Ross is positioned above the bed. → 5 View from

kitchen across the lavatory’s Carrara marble

washbasin towards the bedroom; the middle of

the boathouse features a series of interlocking but

separate spaces including the shower, changing,

lavatory and vanity areas.

Alex Cochrane Architects

Alan Yau

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100 Contemporar y Interiors The Boathouse

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→ 6 The middle zone; a series of interlocking spaces include a marble-lined shower,

lavatory, and changing and vanity areas. → 7 Detail of marble washbasin; the

basin is carved with the Arabic saying 'water is the source of life'. → 8 Resting and

sleeping zone; a bespoke multi-purpose low-level joinery unit runs the full length of

the north wall; the unit predominantly serves as a bookshelf, but also includes two

benches under the windows and a vanity desk in the bedroom; a Gio Ponti Super

Leggera chair provides seating at the desk. → 9 Detail of the joinery unit; an

upholstered reclining bench sits beneath the windowsill. → 10 Balcony; folding

doors open the resting and sleeping zone onto the cantilevered balcony; a Hans

Wegner CH25 chair faces out towards the view.

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100 Contemporar y Interiors Patrick Blanc’s House

Known for his ‘vertical gardens’, Patrick Blanc is a French botanist who specializes in plants from tropical forests. He has created a number of these vertical gardens around the world, firstly on exterior walls, then on interior walls. They are constructed from metal frames attached to the walls, which are then covered with PVC sheets and rot-proof felts. An irrigation system dampens the felt, which in turn waters the plants.

Using this method further, Blanc created his own dream house in Paris with the architect Gilles Ebersolt. The house stands behind a dreary facade; when we open the gate, another world appears. First we step into a courtyard with three walls covered with plants. Entering inside, there is an open-plan kitchen, dining room and Blanc’s study, which is on the top of a huge 20,000-litre (4,400-gallon) fish tank. Measuring 6 x 7 m (20 x 23 ft), the tank’s glass ceiling acts as the study’s floor, from which Blanc’s desk looks down onto fish, turtles, tropical birds and water plants. The temperature of the water is kept warm all year, acting as underfloor heating in the winter.

The surrounding walls are covered with mosses, ferns and leaves in all different sizes and shapes. One of the walls is dedicated to his books, stored in boxes made of plywood piled up to create shelves, reminding us that we are not in a jungle. Upstairs, there is a bathroom with an outdoor shower facing the courtyard. Blanc says that he is not interested in architecture or interior design. Instead, he is interested in plants, fish and water. He designed the house with his extensive knowledge of plants and his innovative systems, but most of all with his passion for what he loves.

Paris 2009 — Residential

Patrick Blanc’s House

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→ 1 / 3 Courtyard; three walls of the courtyard are covered with

plants, some of which are 30 years old; the Vertical Garden is

composed of three parts: a metal frame hung on the walls, a 1 cm

(½ in) thick PVC sheet riveted to the metal frame and a felt layer,

made of polyamide, stapled to the PVC; the felt is rot-proof and

its high capillarity allows water distribution; plants are installed on

the felt as seeds, cuttings or already-grown plants; an irrigation

system keeps the felt moist to feed the plants. → 2 Blanc’s desk is

set on top of the glass-covered fish-tank area; temperature of the

water is kept warm all year, acting as underfloor heating in winter.

→ 4 Original concrete stairs leading to the fish-tank area.

Ko Matsubara

Patrick Blanc

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100 Contemporar y Interiors Patrick Blanc’s House

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→ 5 / 6 Study; a huge tank containing fish and turtles is under the glass floor;

the walls are covered with mosses, ferns and leaves in all different sizes and

shapes; one wall is filled with book shelves. → 7 Detail; tropical birds thrive

in the garden. → 8 Living room looking towards the study; trailing plants

hanging from the balcony. → 9 Entrance to the building. → 10 Bathroom

leading to balcony overlooking the courtyard.

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100 Contemporar y Interiors New Delhi: Estate

Perhaps it is not surprising that a designer who is based in Paris, but also has a home in Los Angeles, and works on projects in New York, London, Kiev and New Delhi, should have a global perspective; but what is more unexpected about Jean-Louis Deniot is that he travels as much in time as space. A designer who cites as inspirations both Adolph Loos and Dorothy Draper can scarcely be considered anything less than eclectic, and the principles of eighteenth-century French design are touchstones for even his most contemporary rooms. What unites all of his diverse output, whether a rambling shingle house in Bridgehampton, NY, a Paris apartment or a dacha outside Moscow, is a sense of luxury and ease, a rightness that is as fitting to the locale as it is to the moment. Every detail is considered, many of them designed specially for each situation.

Deniot is seen at his most exuberant, even flamboyant, in this richly layered New Delhi house that he made from the ground up. Here Deniot created a new decorative ideal, invoking earlier styles ranging from the four-square rigour of Empire and the grandeur of Beaux Arts palaces to the luxurious detailing and decorative richness of the 1930s and 1940s. Working with skilled artisans in India, descendants of those who built the palaces of the maharajas, he unleashed his grandest impulses and created a structure of impressive proportions full of domes and niches, patterned marble floors, gilded mouldings and mirrored trellis rooms. The result is a kind of hip historicism that is more than pastiche, theatrical yet convincing in its details, moderne and modern. It is dazzling but never overwhelming, because each of the thousands of details and luxurious embellishments is grounded within a precise geometry that is the designer’s signature.

New Delhi, India 2012 — Residential

New Delhi: Estate

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→ 1 Main hall staircase; unless otherwise specified, all furniture

and decoration throughout the house is designed by Jean-Louis

Deniot; Venetian-glass pendant lighting; stair railing, inspired

by an eighteenth-century railing on rue des Saints-Pères, Paris;

Empire-style table with marble top that matches the floor

pattern; Indian marble flooring. → 2 Winter garden; distressed

mirror-and-trellis on walls and ceiling; ottoman covered in Romo

velvet; lacquered oak armchairs covered in Edmond Petit fabric;

1940s-style limestone and black marble-top table; antique Louis

XVI-style sofa; jute rug, Indian marble flooring. → 3 Exterior;

pool seating area. → 4 Library; Directoire-style teak panelling

with ebony-accented doors; coffered teak ceiling; sofa covered

in Pierre Frey cotton velvet with Mokuba ribbons; antique

Directoire-style armchair covered in Romo fabric; armchairs

covered in Atmosphere fabric; painting by K Jagjit Singh; André

Arbus-inspired coffee table and rug.

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Michael Boodro

Jean-Louis Deniot

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100 Contemporar y Interiors New Delhi: Estate

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→ 5 Master sitting room; 1880 French chandelier;

wallpaper from Au Fil des Couleurs; divan purchased

at auction; Indian marble flooring. → 6 Master bedroom;

mahogany canopy; headboard and TV ottoman covered

in Seasons fabric; neo-Louis XVI nightstands. → 7 Master

bedroom; 1940s-style sofa covered in Pierre Frey suede;

Art Deco Makassar ebony cocktail table; chair covered

in Jim Thompson silk; Lucien Rollin-inspired desk; neo-

Pompeian gold chair covered in Romo linen. → 8 Dining

room; Directoire-style chandelier; hand-painted door with

antique mirror insert; Klismos chairs; neoclassical-style

table; rug with a mix of neoclassical and Bindi-style dots.

→ 9 Drawing room; console with black and ivory lacquer

finish; antique lamps; paintings by Sanjeev Varma. → 10

Drawing room; antique chandelier; paneling with gold

leaf, ivory and pearl grey; black marble fireplace; coin de

feu sofas; lacquered brass and black opaline-top table by

Collection Pierre; André Arbus-inspired rug. → 11 Main hall

looking towards gallery. → 12 Entry hall; forged iron mirror;

Armand Rateau-inspired armchair; Pompeian-style console

in ebony-stained teak; mahogany stool covered in grey

leather; Indian marble flooring.

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100 Contemporar y Interiors Light Loft

New York2010 — Residential

Light Loft Julie Torres Moskovitz, principal of Fabrica 718, discussed how her clients initiated this project with few constraints – to create an award-winning, sustainable design on budget. The design approach taken was one of ‘subtraction […] revealing and exposing use, inherent structure, materials, details [and enhancing] qualities of natural light’.

The project’s layout is directed by a strong narrative and a physical ‘promenade’ that leads into the core of the home. The long, narrow corridor was selected as a place to showcase the client’s growing photography and art collection. The compressed and linear space leads to an expansive 4.5 m (15 ft) high room filled with natural light. This processional movement becomes an important ‘reveal’ in how both residents and guests experience the apartment. In utilizing repurposed elements found on site, raw metals and etched low-iron glass, together with ‘a conscious selectivity’ to use colour sparingly, the honesty of the natural and found materials was celebrated.

The existing site conditions of the landmark industrial building in SoHo, New York, led Fabrica 718 ‘to make various moves to allow light to penetrate the space, and to create unique mini-atmospheres of experiential discoveries’. Some of this involved designing and fabricating light fixtures with local artisans, reinforcing this initiative. The combination of artificial and natural light embraces both low- and high-tech pathways, green technologies and new materials. The designers were able to push sustainable technologies and a ‘passive-house’ approach and have now also introduced a roof deck, bringing light into the master bedroom and bathroom which will ‘allow for an inside-outside integration and for illumination in the living experience’. Indeed, the success of the space lies in a pluralist design approach, allowing for a number of factors to merge and ‘collaborate’ in order to create a compelling environment that is subtly and thoughtfully ‘illuminated'.

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→ 1 Living space; the loft is furnished with Holly Hager’s art

and furniture collection; original tongue-and-groove oak wood

flooring. → 2 Kitchen; the Valcucine metal shelving tucks in

below the mezzanine; the kitchen island sits below a suspended,

custom-made cooking hood that descends through the 4.5 m

(15 ft) ceiling loft space. → 3 Living space; a Vitsoe 606 Universal

Shelving System, originally designed by Dieter Rams in 1960, is

set in an alcove beside the custom-made kitchen cabinetry wall.

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Fabrica 718

Jon Otis

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100 Contemporar y Interiors Light Loft

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→ 4 Mezzanine-level master bedroom; furnished with Holly Hager’s art

and furniture collection. → 5 Kitchen; detail looking towards entrance hallway

and mezzanine above. → 6 Living area; Chinese contemporary art hangs

on the wall; the painting Great Criticism – Walt Disney (2005) by Wang

Guangyi sits on the white painted brick wall. → 7 / 8 Entrance hallway

to loft with views to bedroom beneath the mezzanine. → 9 Bathroom;

an existing pine column is left exposed as a nod to the building’s history;

honed Carrara marble flooring; Duravit wall-mounted sink; Toto Aquia toilet;

Robern medicine cabinet.

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100 Contemporar y Interiors Can Anita

Deià , Mallorca 2013 — Residential

Can AnitaFounded by Oro del Negro and Manuel Villanueva, MORE is an architectural studio based in Deià, a bohemian town in the north of Mallorca. By working very closely with local builders and artisans, their work fuses contemporary design with a revision of traditional practices and construction methods.

One such example can be seen with Can Anita, a private residence, also located in Deià, which has been almost completely renovated. I love how they integrate old building techniques and old ideas (note the pebble flooring, for example) to achieve a result that is totally fresh and modern. With this 1960s home, MORE set themselves the task of opening spaces up. After omitting auxiliary spaces, they employed the use of reclaimed materials together with carefully selected pieces, such as the stunning copper bath, to create elegant and sophisticated spaces, paying attention to every minute detail. The interior’s earth-tone colours and textures are found throughout the house: natural wood (seating areas, ceiling supports, sliding doors), white walls, neutral-coloured floors and rugged stone (sinks). The combination of these materials, together with classic construction techniques from Mallorca and Morocco, has created a home that reflects the local vernacular while becoming something uniquely modern.

Outside, their thoughtful design continues with the implementation of a lusciously shaded landscape, pergola, seating areas and infinity-edged swimming pool overlooking the surrounding hills. Their attention to detail, adherence to practised construction methods and material selection have created a refined and masterfully completed home.

→ 1 / 5 Master bedroom; built-in bed and mosquito net frame by MORE, built

by Pedro Casanovas; plaster walls and lime white-washed wooden beams

throughout the house, general contractor Jaime Salas. → 2 First-floor plan.

→ 3 Winter garden; furniture by MORE, built by Pedro Casanovas. → 4 Detail

of sliding door. → 6 Kitchen; surfaces by Tadelakt; tap by Horus France.

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Nacho Alegre

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100 Contemporar y Interiors Can Anita

→ 7 Master bathroom; reclaimed bathtub; reclaimed stone sink designed by

MORE, built by Juan Camposol; taps by Horus France; surfaces by Tadelakt.

→ 8 Detail of sink. → 9 Kitchen; oven and hob by Wolf; all woodwork by

MORE, built by Fusteria Soller. → 10 Pool and sunbathing area; sunbeds by

MORE. → 11 Top-floor loft studio; sliding door and built-in sofa by MORE.

→ 12 Main hall; wooden shutters and iron metal doors by MORE. → 13 Exterior.

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